Why do New Zealanders with no money still go on holiday?

(A holiday camp)

It’s holiday season in New Zealand, and I want to talk about holidaying.

A friend asked me: You take several vacations a year. Are you a rich person?

I am very happy that she was included in the team of rich people. Unfortunately, although I am not poor, I am still far away from being rich.

You are not a rich person, nor can you work hard all year long. Think of yourself as a tireless machine, the kind that does not require charging until the battery is exhausted and is discarded on the spot.

In other words, most New Zealanders are not rich, and there are many people who have to use a credit card for anything over $1,000.

However, holiday is one of the most widely discussed topics in New Zealand.

For example, there are two acquaintances, both of whom are salarymen with average incomes. The greetings between the two parties usually go like this:

At the beginning of the summer, the two met, and one asked, "How do you do this?" How is your holiday? One answer, great! and yours? We encountered winter again in the middle of the year, and I asked, how are you doing? One answer: I’m so tired and looking forward to my mid-year holiday coming soon. As the end of the year approaches, late spring and early summer, the greeting becomes: Where are you going for holiday this year? Have you arranged your holiday?

Why do you like taking vacations so much even if you have no money?

Hedonism is certainly not exempt.

Most New Zealanders attach great importance to their own welfare, and sacrificing themselves to benefit others and the collective may be considered abnormal.

I’m not going to lie to you, more than one New Zealander has said to me: New Zealanders are one of the hardest working groups in the world.

When you work hard, you naturally need to take a proper rest and reward yourself, and then you will have the strength to continue working hard.

There are two other conditions that are favorable for vacation:

Firstly, although the money is not much, the big expenses are not too much, and the three major areas of education, medical care and pension do not need to be too much. Worry, as long as you don't do anything, you will generally not be "returned to before liberation overnight", so you don't have so many worries.

Second, all office workers, in addition to public holidays, also have 4 weeks (20 days) of paid annual leave (Annual leave) every year.

Don’t underestimate these 20 days. During the Christmas and New Year holidays that just passed, I took 11 days off even on weekends and public holidays, and only used 3 days of annual leave.

Based on the above reasons, New Zealanders particularly like vacations and have a long history of vacations.

Mr. Gao said that when he was a child, his father went to work and his mother took care of four children at home. About every three months, his parents would go on vacation for a few days, leaving their sisters and brothers in the care of church friends or neighbors. At the end of the year, the whole family will go on vacation together. Sometimes mothers have to take extra vacations, because stay-at-home mothers stay at home all day and need to leave the family from time to time to relax.

So, what is a relaxing vacation without spending a lot of money?

The most common one is camping.

There are many holiday camps/parks all over New Zealand. On the seaside or other leisure and tourist resorts, a large area is as flat as a school playground. The grassland, with or without walls, is divided into pieces about the size of two buses to make tent camps. There are also some luxurious (with kitchen, etc.) or simple (only bunk beds) guest rooms, equipped with Some public facilities: kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, TV room, activity room, children's playground, etc. In good condition, there are also swimming pools, hot springs, etc.

Tent camps are quite cheap (there are also free campsites, some people call them dog camps), and the rooms are a little more expensive, but they are still much cheaper than motels.

Then, you only need to buy a tent, a camp bed/inflatable bed, a sleeping bag, and bring some necessities, and you can spend a few days here in a very leisurely way.

There are many specialized camping stores in New Zealand, selling tents and strange things related to camping.

Mr. Gao bought a radio that can be cranked to generate electricity. He said that if a natural disaster occurs while on vacation, he can listen to the recorder to get news from the outside world. In fact, it is basically a toy for him and his son.

Speaking of fun, fun and rest are the main contents of vacation.

For example, we have been to Ruakaka Holiday Park north of Auckland for four consecutive years. A day's life there is basically like this:

Sleep until you wake up naturally in the morning, After making some breakfast, my daughter and son would either go to the playground, or walk a few minutes to a nearby stream to play with sand and water (children in the camp naturally gather together to play without any supervision.) We adults read books. Let’s chat and have lunch. After lunch, I walk 15 minutes to the beach. After dinner, I go for a walk and eat ice cream.

(At the seaside)

After four years, we got tired of it, so we moved to taupo in the south and did different activities, but they were all about playing and resting.

There are also jobs that need to be done, such as setting up tents and taking down tents. Two years ago, my tent was changed from a two-bedroom tent to a luxurious three-bedroom tent with two living rooms. It took two hours to set up each time. Although it is work, the whole family does it together, which gives it a different kind of vacation feeling.

Some people go on vacation with relatives and friends. I remember that there was an old couple across from our tent, and the four or five tents around them were owned by their sons and daughters. During the day, the tents were almost empty, and they all went out to fish, swim, and play. At dinner, the whole family got together. Xiaoxiao is particularly lively. Other tents came and went, but the old couple stayed together for three weeks every year. I think they must have enjoyed this family-filled holiday very much.

The cost of camping is not much, and you can eat and drink as much as you like. Setting up a tent is an affordable and particularly leisurely way to vacation.

So this way of vacationing not only has a long history, but also has a cultivated tradition. Most primary schools, middle schools, and churches in New Zealand hold various camping activities every year to train children to become proficient in this economical and practical vacation model.

The second more common way to vacation is to go to a vacation home (batch).

When it comes to vacation homes, they seem to be just for the rich. Most people have to take on loans for decades to buy a home, so they don’t have the spare money to buy a vacation home.

In fact, many people who often go to "our batch" to spend big weekends belong to the working class.

Many family batches were purchased by someone or a few people in the family many years ago, and then all relatives and friends can use them for free or at a very low cost.

Vacation houses are generally located in small towns or villages, close to the seaside or leisure areas, and have older facilities and simpler facilities. You can bring your own food and accommodation to stay here for a few days and temporarily escape from the work and life circle. It can completely relax and have a rest. Of course, it can also be used for romance.

There are also vacation homes owned by several families***. On the trade me website, which is known as "New Zealand's Taobao", someone once sold 25% of the ownership of a vacation home. Four families were found to contribute funds. They used it for an average of 12 months a year, which was quite cost-effective.

Some people use the homes of relatives and friends who live in leisure and tourist resorts as their own vacation homes, and camp in their backyards. In addition to having a good relationship, you should also pay attention to causing as little trouble to relatives and friends as possible so that it can become a vacation home that can be used for a long time.

In addition, there are some leisure vacation methods that have fewer users but have always existed. Among them, the one that surprised me the most is the "housekeeping vacation" method.

Last winter, a family of four living in Nelson went on vacation to the United States for two weeks and needed someone to take care of their house and pets.

Here in Auckland, my sister-in-law was worried about where her children would go to play during the holidays. When Nelson’s friend told her about this, she immediately offered to take care of the house and pets for free on the condition that she and her son Live in the house for two weeks.

Both parties are naturally happy.

The method of house-sitting vacation was originally just a private exchange between friends in different places. Later, specialized agents emerged who were responsible for reviewing qualifications and formulating contracts, becoming a win-win working vacation model.

There are other ways of leisure vacation that working-class people like, such as taking a boat trip (cruise), etc. I won’t go into them one by one.

I used to have a narrow living circle in China and limited knowledge. After integrating into this holiday lifestyle, I have two major thoughts.

First, in the past, I thought that vacation meant traveling, and traveling meant seeing the scenery everywhere, spending money and gaining knowledge. It was not until I experienced a leisure vacation that I realized that the vacation we salarymen need most is actually a leisure vacation. Because we are usually busy at work and under great pressure, we need to rest, relax, play, and replenish our body and mind with oxygen.

Second, you have to take good care of yourself even if you have no money. Don’t overextend yourself just because you have no money. If your mental, physical, and mental energy are exhausted, how can you continue to make money? Only by combining work and rest can we better shoulder our family responsibilities.

I wanted to have a relaxing chat, but why did I feel a little bit heavy again?